Tekor Church
church building in Kars Province, Turkey
The Church of Saint Sarkis (Sargis) in Tekor, also known as the Tekor Basilica (Armenian: Տեկորի տաճար) was a late 5th century Armenian church built in historical Armenia. It was located facing the town of Digor in the Kars Province of Turkey, about 16 kilometers west of the Armenian border. Tekor was a three aisled basilica with a dome. It was severely damaged by earthquakes in 1912 and 1936, and later damaged by vandalism. Now only the lower parts of the rubble and concrete core of the walls remain, the facing stone apparently removed to build the town hall (now itself demolished) in the 1960s. The inscription dating the building to the 480s was the oldest known writing in the Armenian language.
Location
The village of Tekor (Digor) had a population of 360 in 1886, with Armenians making up 70% and Kurds 25%. Over 500 Armenians lived in the village by 1913. At the time it was part of the Kagizman okrug of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire. The Armenian presence came to a permanent end during the Turkish–Armenian War of 1920.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Tekor Church” as church building in Kars Province, Turkey. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as church building in Kars Province, Turkey. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7695481. Authority coordinates are 40.371, 43.415. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 1936, 1886 and 1913.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tekor Church”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tekor Church primary sources, Tekor Church archive and Tekor research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tekor Church”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tekor Church” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.